SRC Issues Policy Statement to G20 Leaders on Defending and Strengthening Key Pillars of the Global Reform Program

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 27, 2017, the Systemic Risk Council released a policy statement to the finance ministers, governors, chief financial regulators, and legislative committee leaders of the G20 countries.

"The SRC has decided to put on paper our view of the essential ingredients of a safe and sound financial system," said Sir Paul Tucker, Chairman of the SRC. He stated: "In the wake of unresolved debates at the global level, potential changes to U.S. policy on system stability, and ongoing issues in Europe, the SRC stands ready to make specific comments and recommendations to ensure that policymakers stay committed to building a resilient financial system."

The Systemic Risk Council is funded by CFA Institute, a global organization of more than 147,000 investment professionals who put investors' interest first and set the standard for professional excellence in finance.

In its statement, the SRC underlined the vital importance of five core pillars of the global reform program:

1. mandating much higher common tangible equity in banking groups to reduce the probability of failure, with individual firms required to carry more equity capital, the greater the social and economic consequences of their failure;

3. empowering regulators to adopt a system-wide view through which they can ensure the resilience of all intermediaries and market activities, whatever their formal type, that are materially relevant to the resilience of the system as a whole;

4. simplifying the network of exposures among intermediaries by mandating that, wherever possible, derivatives transactions be centrally cleared by central counterparties that are required to be extraordinarily resilient; and

5. establishing enhanced regimes for resolving financial intermediaries of any kind, size, or nationality so that, even in the midst of a crisis, essential services can be maintained to households and businesses without taxpayer solvency support—a system of bailing-in bondholders rather than of fiscal bailouts.

The SRC advised that this is not a moment to relax or to retreat from the global reform program, given the debt overhang and impaired macroeconomic policy capability to cushion any shocks to continued recovery. Rather, this is a time for stability of the financial system to remain a priority.

The independent, non-partisan Systemic Risk Council (www.systemicriskcouncil.org) was formed to monitor and encourage regulatory reform of U.S. and global capital markets, with a focus on systemic risk. The SRC is funded by the CFA Institute, a global association of more than 147,000 investment professionals who put investors' interests first and set the standard for professional excellence in finance. The SRC works collaboratively to seek agreement on each of its recommendations. The statements, documents and recommendations of the private sector, volunteer SRC do not necessarily represent the views of the CFA Institute.

Systemic Risk Council Membership

Chair: Sir Paul Tucker, Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School and Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England

Chair Emeritus:Sheila Bair, President of Washington College and Former Chair of the FDIC

Senior Advisor:Jean-Claude Trichet, Former President of the European Central Bank

Senior Advisor:Paul Volcker, Former Chair of the Federal Reserve Board

Members:

Brooksley Born, Former Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Baroness Sharon Bowles, Former Member of European Parliament and Former Chair of the Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee

Bill Bradley, Former U.S. Senator

William Donaldson, Former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission